Diagon Alley
by WritingJunkie
Summary: RemusTonks Tonks is having a hard time and Remus is there for her.


Diagon Alley

Remus woke up feeling exhausted. It was the day after the full moon and he was covered in a fresh coating of scars and bruises and felt as tired as ever. He hauled himself out of bed and pulled on some old, shabby robes before heading to the kitchen for a slice of toast and a mug of hot chocolate.

He sat down at the kitchen table eating his 5th helping of toast and hot chocolate when he heard the front door of Grimmauld Place open, then shut again with a quiet click, then the sound of someone knocking over the umbrella stand and landing heavily on the floor.

He rose to his feet and walked stiffly into the hallway where Mrs Black was screaming all sorts of nonsense at Tonks as she tried to untangle herself from the stack of umbrella's that had landed on her.

Remus went over to her and picked up some of the umbrellas so she could get out.

"Sorry…" she mumbled as she helped him pick up the umbrellas.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked giving her a concerned look.

"I'm fine," she snapped before roughly shoving the umbrellas into the stand and storming off upstairs leaving Remus alone once more. He sighed, wondering what had gotten into her and was just about to return to the kitchen when the door flew open and Ginny pushed past him, knocking the umbrella stand back onto the floor and went into the kitchen, slamming the door behind her.

Remus muttered "Women!" and picked up all the umbrellas again, replacing them in the umbrella stand. He decided he couldn't go upstairs or he'd be annoying Tonks and he couldn't go back to breakfast or he'd be annoying Ginny so he decided he may as well go to Diagon Alley.

He disapparated from the doorstep of Grimmauld Place to the doorstep of the Leaky Cauldron and went through it into Diagon Alley. He thought he may as well buy some Christmas presents while he was there and went into Quality Quidditch Supplies to get a book for Harry. When he came back out of the shop he decided to have a drink and warm up a bit as it was quite a cold December so he went into the Leaky Cauldron and found Tonks sitting alone at the bar and she looked like she'd been crying.

He approached her cautiously and said "Tonks? May I sit here?"

"It's a free country," she replied and Remus could hear the sadness in her voice.

"What's up?" he asked, sitting down beside her.

"Nothing," she replied grumpily.

"Yes there is! You can talk to me you know. I won't tell anyone," he said, gently trying to get her to open up a bit.

She turned and looked at him and he could see she was upset and in pain. She took a letter from her pocket and passed it to him.

_**Dear Nymphadora Tonks.**_

_**We are sorry to inform you that your mother, Andromeda Tonks, passed away last night. As you know she has been suffering for some time now and after she went into cardiac arrest last night there was nothing more we could do. We are sorry about your loss and we did all we could.**_

_**Yours Sincerely**_

_**S. Frost**_

_**St Mungo's Healer**_

Remus looked at Tonks and saw the tears in her eyes, "Are you ok?" he asked quietly.

"I can't believe she's gone," her voice was shaking as she spoke and Remus felt extremely sorry for her. She felt his arm go around her shoulders and she fell against him sobbing.

He held her close to him and said, "At least she's not in pain though. And they did all they could. She wouldn't want you to be upset."

Her sobbing had become quiet sniffs and she replied, "I know but…. I didn't even get to say goodbye," and she was crying harder again.

He held her tightly and whispered, "She's not gone anywhere! She's still in your heart and memories! Just like Sirius is!" and he stroked her back soothingly as he spoke.

After a while Tonks's sobbing had stopped and she was burying her head in Remus's chest when she said, "I can't take much more of losing people Remus! There's not many people left to lose!"

"You've still got me and I'm not going anywhere! You know how many times they've tried to get rid of me and they haven't managed it yet!" he hugged her tightly and she looked up at him and smiled weakly.

"Yeah…"

"If you can put up with me being a complete asshole that is!" he said and she laughed.

"Oh I think I could manage some how!" she replied hugging Remus tighter.

"Ok then! You'll regret saying that one day you know!"

"I could never regret seeing you Remus!"

"Really? Wow! Most people want to throw up after seeing me!"

"Shut up Remus! You're much better than the lot of them put together!"

"Do you want another drink then?"

"Ok!" she smiled at him. He ordered two firewhiskys and passed her one. "Thanks Remus!" she said smiling at him, "I thought I wasn't going to smile for ages but I just cant help it when you're around!"

"Yeah you can't help laughing at how stupid I am more like!" Remus laughed and drank his firewhisky.

"You're a Pratt Remus!"

"Thanks!" he said laughing.

"A fucking mental Pratt at that!" Remus laughed and took Tonks's hand.

"Should we be going back to Grimmauld Place then?"

"Yeah we probably should! I'm sorry for snapping at you early! I didn't mean to."

"It's ok! You have a good enough excuse to snap at me I think!" Remus replied as they walked out onto the street together holding hands.

"I'm still sorry though!"

"Apology accepted then!" he smiled at her, "Although I don't see why Ginny had to throw the umbrella stand on the floor and slam the kitchen door earlier!"

"Harry left her," Tonks replied. "He doesn't want her to get hurt."

Remus nodded. "I know that feeling!"

"You aren't going to start that again are you?" Tonks asked looking disappointed.

"No I'm not. I mean I am too poor, too old, too dangerous and too stupid but then I don't know how much longer I can take being alone!"

"Does that mean…?"

Remus sighed. "Yes I'll go out with you!" Tonks flung her arms around him tightly and kissed him.

"Finally!"

Remus laughed and kissed her back.

"Well you said you could put up with a… what was it again? Fucking mental Pratt was it?" Remus said laughing and Tonks hit him playfully before kissing him again.


End file.
